- Four, three, two, one.

- 60 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. Would lead at least 125,000 down Woodward Avenue from Adelaide in Woodward all the way to where we're standing right now in what is known as the Detroit Walk to Freedom.

That march was organized by the Detroit Council for Human Rights, which was led by Reverend C.L.

Franklin.

And of course if you don't know C.L.

you probably know his daughter the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin.

Reverend Albert Clegg who will become the founder of the Shrine of Black Madonna and changed his name to Jerem Moji Abbe Ajman, Benjamin McFall, the owner of McFall Brothers Funeral Homes and James del Rio who was go on to become a judge.

They would lead that march in conjunction with the UAW which of course was led by Walter Ruther, the mayor of the city of Detroit that time Jerome Kavanaugh.

And they would lead that 125,000 people down here and Martin Luther King Jr. at what was then Cobo Arena would give a speech, a 30 minute speech, and at the end of that speech he would leave a crescendo of the I have a dream refrain.

- Organized labor and the civil rights movement are inextricably intertwined.

And we stand together and it is a great great prestigious honor to be a part of this.

- I hope that as you step out into the street this morning you are making a commitment.

A commitment to organize our community.

- It is a generational moment and it's personal for me.

My father marched 60 years ago as a six year old in this march.

- You see people banning books.

People wanna ban the book that talks about Dr. King.

This march would not be acceptable in Florida under the current governor, under the current legislature.

- 1963!

- Hello.

- Why is it a little known fact that Dr. King rehearsed the I have a dream speech here.

- I know.

- In the city of Detroit first before he took it to DC.

- Well you know how it is man.

You getting your sing on at one place before you go sing.

- You working it out.

- That's right.

You working out the kinks and stuff and this ain't no small place Detroit.

If you can do it in Detroit, then you can withstand all kinds of critique.

Cause people here are rigorous about performance about intelligence, about oratory and the like.

- You can never stop marching.

It's critically important though that we have fixed policy to protest.

Protests without policy is pure performance.

- When do we want it?

Now!

- Charity, ou were intentional with bringing your daughter here.

Why?

- Absolutely.

Well, she has to see this in action and she also gets to see mom at work in a number of ways.

She also needs to see mom marching down and she needs to get the opportunity so that 10 years from now 20 years from now, 30 years from now, she'll be able to say she participated in the march as one of the first steps toward her own fight for freedom for all of us.

- This is commemorating the downtown Detroit downtown walk from Woodward to Coble Hall in 1963.

And of course that's Aretha Franklin and Dr. King and I was six years old when I was in the first march in 63.

- So you were in the original march in 1960?

- Yes, my dad.

My dad brought me.

- My favorite quote was injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We never forget that.

- Sacrifice, crusade us, be destined for Braden.

No justice, no peace, no justice, no peace.

- We won't stop.

- There's a huge portrait behind my desk of Dr. King and this march in 1963.

I keep it there as a reminder of the promise of the dream, but also a reminder of what happens when you don't honor that dream.

I look at that picture and think just four years later this city erupted in violence that we still haven't recovered from.

- I dream of a world where we don't have to fight day after day to have our voices heard.

But I know I can't create that world on my own.

It's up to all of us to take active parts in making our world a better place for the younger generations.

- Let us be the generation that shatters the chains of injustice, discrimination, and oppression.

We have the power to shape the future.

Let us march with courage and resilience and with the unwavering belief that a brighter tomorrow is within our reach.

Together, let's make Dr. King's dream our own.